News Release: 1/19/2017

Special Siena College Long Island Voters Poll:
51-33%: Trump Policies Will be Good for Long Island
Property Taxes Top Problem; 73% Say Make Tax Cap Permanent; 68% Call for Funding Schools by State Income Taxes NOT Local Property Tax
Two-Thirds in Favor of Attracting Islanders Back to Nassau Coliseum
Support for Wind Farms, Bridge to CT, Affordable Housing; Want Albany to Address Environmental Protection & Infrastructure Development

Loudonville, NY, By 51-33 percent Long Island voters think President-elect Donald Trump’s economic policies will be good rather than bad for the island’s economy according to a new Siena College poll of Long Island registered voters commissioned by the Long Island Association released today. As 95 percent of voters say that property taxes are a somewhat or very serious problem for Long Islanders, 73 percent are in favor of making the New York State Property Tax Cap permanent and 68 percent are in favor of funding public education on Long Island with the state’s personal income tax rather than with local property taxes.

Sixty-five percent of Long Island voters, 35 percent strongly and 30 percent somewhat, are in favor of taking aggressive steps to return the New York Islanders to the Nassau Coliseum.

More than three-quarters of Long Island voters are in favor of constructing offshore wind farms that are at least 10 miles or more offshore. Sixty percent of voters support building a bridge over the Long Island Sound in Suffolk County to Connecticut while voters are evenly divided, 46-48 percent on constructing a tunnel from Nassau County to Westchester County.

Eighty-six percent of voters say that the supply of affordable housing is a problem for the island and by 66-29 percent they are in favor of constructing affordable housing units in downtowns on the island. Voters look to the Governor and Legislature to focus on not only taxes – personal income, business and estate – but also spending cuts and ethics reform. But most critical for Albany to address they say are environmental protection and infrastructure. Seventy-five percent say it is very important or critical for the state to address environmental protection and 73 percent want the Governor and Legislature to work on infrastructure development.

“Facing a daunting list of serious problems including property taxes, health insurance costs, the supply of affordable housing, environmental quality and crime, Long Islanders are looking for answers locally, in Albany and from Washington D.C.,” said Siena College Research Institute’s Director, Don Levy. “A majority think a President Trump will help, and that we’re more inclined to have good times rather than bad times in 2017. But, we will see whether their support for making the tax cap permanent, funding education with income rather than property taxes or moving on various projects including offshore wind farms, a bridge to Connecticut, electrifying the Long Island Railroad or building affordable housing in downtowns come to pass or not.”

Long Island voters also support (84-12) percent creating a single Election Day for all of Long Island’s special district elections that include: water, sewer, library and fire districts as well as by 64-33 percent adding a fee to water bills on Long Island that would be used to pay for clean water protection programs. Despite concerns over the cost of health care, voters are mixed on the idea of repealing the Affordable Care Act with 48 percent in favor of repeal but 49 percent opposed.

Voters oppose consolidating Long Island’s 127 school districts into 13 town-wide districts by 51-41 percent. And they strongly oppose the idea that Long Island secede from New York State and create the State of Long Island with Nassau and Suffolk Counties (66-29 percent) as well as merging Nassau and Suffolk Counties into Long Island County (71-24 percent opposed).

Over half, 52 percent, of Long Island voters use the MacArthur Airport. Sixty-nine percent of Suffolk voters and 35 percent of Nassau voters use the airport. Over three-quarters, 76 percent, say that they would use the airport more frequently if additional airlines were based there.

“As the LIA formulates its priorities for 2017, we wanted to take the pulse of Long Islanders on a host of issues and their responses will be helpful as we look out for Long Island’s interests in Albany and Washington, D.C.” said LIA’s President Kevin S. Law.

This special Siena College Long Island Voters Poll with funding support from the Long Island Association was conducted December 8, 11-14th 2016 by telephone calls conducted in English to 703 Long Island registered voters. Respondent sampling was initiated by asking for the youngest male in the household. It has an overall margin of error of +4.3 percentage points including the design effects resulting from weighting. Sampling was conducted via a stratified dual frame probability sample of landline and cell phone telephone numbers (both from Survey Sampling International) from Long Island weighted to reflect known population patterns. Data was statistically adjusted by age, party, region and gender to ensure representativeness. The Siena College Research Institute, directed by Donald Levy, Ph.D., conducts political, economic, social and cultural research primarily in NYS. SRI, an independent, non-partisan research institute, subscribes to the American Association of Public Opinion Research Code of Professional Ethics and Practices. For more information, call Don Levy at (518) 783-2901. For survey cross-tabs:www.Siena.edu/SRI/SNY.

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